Rob Topinka
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robtoes.bsky.social
Rob Topinka
@robtoes.bsky.social
110 followers 100 following 23 posts
rhetoric & reactionary digital politics

recovering lurker

Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London.

report: http://tinyurl.com book: http://tinyurl.com/4rzymwuz pod: http://tinyurl.com/2jv923r
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Rob Topinka
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face the right way.

by Ezra Klein
November 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
In these turbulent times, we can always rely on powerful liberal institutions to surrender their ideals and cave to authoritarianism without any fight whatsoever
bluevirginia.bsky.social Blue Virginia @bluevirginia.bsky.social · Oct 22
UVA "agrees to be bound by [DoJ's] 'Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination,' ensuring that UVA does not engage in unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities." bluevirginia.us/2025/10/brea...
Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with the University of Virginia (“UVA”) that will protect UVA’s students, faculty, and employees from violations of federal civil rights laws, including from discrimination based on race, sex, or national origin. As part of the agreement, the University of Virginia agrees to be bound by the Department of Justice’s “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination,” ensuring that UVA does not engage in unlawful racial discrimination in its university programming, admissions, hiring, or other activities. UVA will provide relevant information and data to the Department of Justice on a quarterly basis through 2028. The President of UVA will personally certify each quarter that UVA is in compliance with the agreement. The Department will pause its pending investigations into the university’s admissions policies and other civil rights concerns. The United States shall treat UVA as eligible for future grants and awards. If UVA completes its planned reforms prohibiting DEI at the university, the Department will close its investigations against UVA. “This notable agreement with the University of Virginia will protect students and faculty from unlawful discrimination, ensuring that equal opportunity and fairness are restored,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. “We appreciate the progress that the university has made in combatting antisemitism and racial bias, and other American universities should be on alert that the Justice Department will ensure that our federal civil rights laws are enforced for every American, without exception.”
October 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
I was on Today in Focus talking about how the meme phrase the 'Boriswave' commits those who use it - including in mainstream politic and journalism - to an ideological framing with roots in the Great Replacement theory, whether they are aware of it or not.
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Boriswave, fighting-age men, cultural Marxism: how the far right is changing how we speak
Why are the online far right so successful in shaping our political language? With Dr Robert Topinka
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
“Trumpian stupidity is less a form of organizational inertia or disarray than a slash-and-burn assault on the very things — universities, public health, market data — that help make the world intelligible.”

www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/pol...
Stupidology | William Davies
The challenge posed by this political crisis is how to take the stupidity seriously without reducing it to a wholly mental or psychiatric, let alone genetic, phenomenon. Stupidity can be understood as...
www.nplusonemag.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:32 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
Crucial listening to understand how politics works today
piercepenniless.bsky.social James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · Oct 16
I was delighted to speak to Alan Finlayson for the @lrb.co.uk's On Politics. We take on the digital right (and online left), the champions of inegalitarianism, print and social democracy, Farage as influencer and... whether the internet is just right-wing.
October 16, 2025 at 11:01 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
happy to report that the world is now so stupid that my knowledge of shitposting has become valuable enough to publish in the Guardian.

My favorite part is I got to call JD Vance a try-hard who can't even shitpost properly in print.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Do you know about shitposting? It’s cheap humour, rage bait – and now, it seems, US government policy | Robert Topinka
Donald Trump’s White House reveals a new ‘portrait’ of Joe Biden – and in his world, if you don’t laugh, the joke’s on you, says Robert Topinka of Birkbeck, University of London
www.theguardian.com
October 2, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
annieknk.bsky.social
Everyone always asks me what my favourite conspiracy theory is but medbeds is for sure the saddest, I really can't think about it for too long. Just openly preying on the hopes of very desperate people
alkapdc.bsky.social Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · Sep 28
Trump tonight appears to have pushed the false "medbed" conspiracy theory, which has spread in the far-right internet over the years. www.yahoo.com/news/qanon-c...
September 28, 2025 at 7:54 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
If Palantir secures the contract for the digital ID rollout, will that make it more or less likely that the Antichrist will help me pay my council tax?
September 26, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
profafinlayson.bsky.social
Last week I had a bit in @theguardian.com about how rhetoric provides a vocabulary for people to think/argue with. Here's my colleague @robtoes.bsky.social explaining how exactly that was done by online reactionaries inventing 'Boriswave'. Read & learn.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Tuesday briefing: The online origins of ‘Boriswave’, the right’s favourite new phrase
In today’s newsletter: How a term created by the extremely online right made it into the mainstream press – and a major speech by Nigel Farage
www.theguardian.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:18 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
First Thiel, then Trump: the American project has failed because the libs were too mean in a celebrity gossip blog

'One Trump appointee recently told Semafor that they were "radicalized" by "being booted out of the Gawker comments section, way back in the day."'
www.garbageday.email/p/petty-powe...
Petty, powerful, and pathologically online
Read to the end for an academic paper on puppygirls
www.garbageday.email
September 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
gavinmueller.bsky.social
media studies: media effects model used to be the "hypodermic needle" but ofc that is way too simple

psychologists: Just as the hypodermic needle is the delivery mechanism for drugs like heroin, the smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine for a wired generation.
September 10, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
ddzeeuw.bsky.social
Together with Marc Tuters and @robtoes.bsky.social I wrote an essay on the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Groypers - Nick Fuentes connection and the state of memetic political violence today oilab.eu/frozen-antag...
Frozen Antagonisms: Charlie Kirk, Groypers, and the Meme Politics of Violence – OILab
oilab.eu
September 14, 2025 at 8:05 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
The BBC apologised for livestreaming Bob Vylan's chants.

BBC News at Ten played a video of Elon Musk telling protestors to 'fight back or die' and calling for the dissolution of parliament.
September 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
The NYTimes is out here defending the Great Replacement Theory as 'normal'

I've been calling this ambient extremism - a once obscure French far-right conspiracy is now so ambient that one of the last avatars of the liberal order defends it, mistakenly attributing its origin to American politics.
September 3, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
mommunism.bsky.social
Anas Al Sharif had these words to publish if he was martyred which he was tonight as Israel starts the invasion of Gaza City
Martyrs of Gaza @GazaMartyrs This is my will and my final message. If my words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you. God knows that I have given all my effort and strength to be a support and a voice for my people since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that God would grant me life to return with my family and loved ones to our original town of Ashkelon (Al-Majdal), occupied land. But God's will was swifter, and His decree is binding. I lived pain in all its details, tasted grief and loss repeatedly, yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is—-without distortion or falsification— hoping God would bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who besieged our breaths, and whose hearts were not moved by the shattered bodies of our children and women, nor did they stop the massacre our people have faced for more than a year and a half. I entrust you with Palestine, the jewel of the Muslim world and the pulse of every free heart in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its innocent children who were not granted the time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart, their remains scattered on the walls. l urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward liberating the land and the people until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland. I entrust you with my family. I entrust you with the apple of my eye, my beloved daughter, Sham, whom fate did not allow me to see grow as I dreamed. I entrust you with my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to support and accompany until he grew strong, carrying my burden and continuing the mission. I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose prayers were the reason I reached where I did. Her supplications were my fortress, and her light my path. I pray God to ease her heart and reward her abundantly on my behalf. I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah Bayan, from whom war separated us for long days and months, but who remained faithful, steadfast like an olive tree trunk that never bends, patient and devout, carrying the trust in my absence with strength and faith. I urge you to gather around them and be their support after God Almighty. If I die, I die steadfast on my principles, bearing witness to God that I am satisfied with His decree, believing in meeting Him, and certain that what is with God is better and everlasting. O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path to freedom for my people and family. Forgive me if I fell short, and pray for me mercy, for I have remained true to the covenant, never changing or betraying it. Do not forget Gaza... And do not forget me in your good prayers for forgiveness and acceptance. Anas Jamal Al-Sharif 06.04.2025 This is what Anas ordered to be published upon his martyrdom.
August 10, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
jeffsharlet.bsky.social
THIS is the kind of journalism I believe we need more of to understand & fight fascism. It's what I call empathy for the devil: illumination of the path by which a brilliant kid descended into the darkness of Muskism, likely resulting in real death in the world. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions
Luke Farritor could have been an artist, or a builder, or someone dedicated to seeing a great historical mystery through. Instead he wound up at the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing, dism...
www.bloomberg.com
August 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
scott-rodgers.bsky.social
Some snaps from the @birmac.bsky.social / Media & Democracy / Qualitative Methods Group workshop 'Exploring Quali-Quantitative Approaches in Social Media Research', where me, @robtoes.bsky.social & participants explored methods for approaching the messy, contradictory phenomena that is social media
July 18, 2025 at 2:38 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
I was on TV (not really just Channel 4 online) to talk Trump, MAGA meltdown and the Epstein files.

my body goes into powersave mode on Zoom calls but I managed to explain that Trump screwed up, the Dems are still hopeless, and true believer posters will go on posting
youtu.be/Zbdr-C2h6uA?..
Trump says Epstein case is a 'scam', lashing out at his supporters
YouTube video by Channel 4 News
youtu.be
July 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
From Kier Starmer acquiescing to Tommy Robinson over grooming gangs, to the NYTimes sourcing Zohran Mamdani hit pieces from eugenicists, extremism is now ambient, and it directly shapes mainstream culture. Had a chance to talk about it at the Amiel & Melburn Trust lecture...
youtu.be/3c7W2AyGIk8?...
2025 Amiel & Melburn Panel Event: Resisting the Rise of the Radical Right
YouTube video by Jarman Lab
youtu.be
July 16, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
liamshrivastava.bsky.social
The Amiel & Melburn Annual lecture is happening this Wednesday!

A stellar lineup discussing how the Left can resist the Rise of the Radical Right, hosted at Birkbeck.

@kojokoram.bsky.social, @irrnews.bsky.social @afoggyplace.bsky.social @bethanyrielly.bsky.social @robtoes.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
In Amsterdam today to talk ‘ambient extremism,’ the incoherence of reactionary digital politics and the rhetoric of outrage, a more free floating and more readily purged passion than ressentiment. Streaming fom 5pm CET www.spui25.nl/programma/am...
Ambient Extremism in Reactionary Digital Politics
In this second talk of ACES’s “Diagonalism” series, Robert Topinka engages with the idea of “ambient extremism.” This type of contemporary digital reactionary politics entails a dissolution of distinc...
www.spui25.nl
June 17, 2025 at 11:38 AM
robtoes.bsky.social
oh, cool, the evil company founded by a comic-book villain reports surprise profits because they're good at using AI for warfare on.ft.com/42HX1TA
Palantir shakes off defence spending concerns with boost to revenue outlook
Data intelligence group’s shares fall 9% after hours even as it reports forecast-beating first quarter
on.ft.com
May 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
robtoes.bsky.social
Buried in this story is a link to official figures showing white people get shorter prison sentences, but fascists kept posting 'two-tier Keir', so the 'row' becomes the story, redressing racist sentencing becomes 'special treatment' and the BBC gives Tommy Robinson a W www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sentencing guidelines delayed after 'two-tier' row
It comes after the government said it would pass an emergency law to override the guidance.
www.bbc.co.uk
April 1, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
philipncohen.com
The most serious Nazi shit in this extremely Nazi shit executive order may be the idea, just slipped in there, that one of the "divisive narratives that distort our shared history" is that "race is not a biological reality but a social construct." www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.
www.whitehouse.gov
March 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Rob Topinka
chadloder.bsky.social
NEW: Archived tweets for Gavin Kriger, Musk's 20-something DOGE employee wreaking havoc inside USAID, shows that Kriger has retweeted multiple neo-Nazis including Nick Fuentes, leader of the so-called Groyper movement, and another popular explicit Nazi account recently unmasked by @travisbrown.dev
chadloder.bsky.social Chad Loder @chadloder.bsky.social · Feb 3
Gavin Kliger, Elon's DOGE hitler youth shutting down USAID, is now indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of children. His Instagram appears to be @gkliger. He's scrubbing his online footprint.

Here's an archived copy of Kliger's resume: web.archive.org/web/20240418...
screenshot of the private IG account of a Gavin Kliger Screenshot of Gavin Kliger's now-deactivated GitHub account
February 3, 2025 at 6:06 PM